Zantedeschia aethiopica cultivar Red Desire.
The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Zantedeschia plant, botanically known as Zantedeschia aethiopica, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Red Desirexe2x80x99.
The new Zantedeschia is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Steenbergen, The Netherlands. The objective of the program is to create and develop new freely flowering Zantedeschia cultivars with attractive spathe color that can be used as a cut flower as well as a container plant.
The new Zantedeschia originated from a cross-pollination by the Inventor in 1995 of a Zantedeschia aethiopica selection identified as white, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with the Zantedeschia aethiopica cultivar Marsh Mellow, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The cultivar Red Desire was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Steenbergen, The Netherlands.
Asexual propagation of the new cultivar by rhizome divisions in Steenbergen, The Netherlands since 1997 has shown that the unique features of this new Zantedeschia plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual propagation.
The new Zantedeschia has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature and light intensity, without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of the cultivar Red Desire. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Red Desirexe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Upright and somewhat outwardly spreading plant habit.
2. White-colored spathes with dark pink-colored throats and dark pink-colored spadices.
3. Freely flowering habit.
Plants of the new Zantedeschia are most similar to plants of the parent plants. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Steenbergen, The Netherlands, plants of the new Zantedeschia differed from plants of the female parent:
1. Plants of the new Zantedeschia were smaller than plants of the female parent.
2. Plants of the new Zantedeschia had white-colored spathes with dark pink-colored throats whereas plants of the female parent had solid white-colored spathes.
3. Plants of the new Zantedeschia had dark pink-colored spadices whereas plants of the female parent had yellow-colored spadices.
In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Steenbergen, The Netherlands, plants of the new Zantedeschia differed from plants of the male parent, the cultivar Marsh Mellow, in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Zantedeschia were more freely flowering than plants of the cultivar Marsh Mellow.
2. Plants of the new Zantedeschia had white-colored spathes with dark pink-colored throats whereas plants of the cultivar Marsh Mellow had white-colored spathes with light pink-colored throats.
3. Plants of the new Zantedeschia had dark pink-colored spadices whereas plants of the cultivar Marsh Mellow had light pink to white-colored spadices.